Budaj to start for Habs against Rangers

Peter Budaj will get the start in goal when the Canadiens play the New York Rangers Monday night at Madison Square Garden (7:30 p.m., TSN-HABS, RDS, TSN Radio 690).

Budaj has started only one of the Canadiens’ first 11 games, posting a 1-0 record with a 1.00 goals-against average and .964 save percentage.

Louis Leblanc, who was called up from the Hamilton Bulldogs on Sunday, skated on a line with David Desharnais and Rene Bourque during Monday’s morning skate and will play against the Rangers, taking Travis Moen’s spot. Moen didn’t make the trip to New York after being hit in the face with a puck during Saturday’s 2-0 loss to the San Jose Sharks. He suffered a small fracture and will be sidelined for a week.

Defenceman Douglas Murray, who has been sidelined since training camp with a lower-body injury, took part in the morning skate and will be in the lineup against the Rangers, playing his first game in a Habs jersey. Murray will be paired with Francis Bouillon and coach Michel Therrien said he would monitor Murray’s ice time.

George Parros, who hasn’t played since suffering a concussion in the season opener, took part in the morning skate but was still wearing a no-contact jersey.

Expect Carey Price to be back in goal Tuesday night when the Canadiens play host to the Dallas Stars at the Bell Centre. In 10 games this season, Price has a 5-5-0 record with one shutout, a 2.12 goals-against average and .937 save percentage.

Here’s how the lines and defence pairings looked at the morning skate:

326 Comments

Pleased to report that everyone’s favorite event organizer Ian Cobb has had a successful kidney stone procedure and is enjoying some oxycontin as I type this. Man was he high!

He will reply to your emails in the not too distant future I’m sure. But first, he’s coming over here later for soup and a comfy chair by the gas stove to enjoy our tilt against the Rangers en anglais sur les ondes de TSN Montreal (which he doesn’t get)

I have also offered up my 50 wpm typing skills to allow him to post comments on the live blog for the first time in real time.

PS, I was the guy selling raffle tix on Saturday. Very nice to finally meet many of you!

Rightbackatchya Matty, sorry I had to bail right after the game as I had Sunday morning plans back here in Belleville, otherwise I would’ve been at Hurley’s.

A shout out to L Elle and Jeff from Brighton whom I had the pleasure to sit next to. So sad that we never had the chance to come out of our seats for at least one goal…

Another big shout out to HabsTriniFan for supplying my last minute ticket. I have a nice pic of Ian and Andree from Saturday’s dinner that we’ll get up on the Facebook page soon. Ian tells me it’s the first time he’s enjoyed his meal at a summit while it was still hot.

Thanks for the news. Even though he spoke about his beloved rock i did not think it would be removed that soon and wonder how he managed to endure it in MTL. I am amazed that he went through the summit while having stone troubles…and now he is stoned ! O.k. now you take it easy Ian !

Ok fine! Everyone leave. McCaron alone, he’ll be a top 6-9 forward in 3 years when we win the cup and will put Lucic in his place I hope. Just give it time and stop jumping to conclusions so quickly and sounding like leaf fans! Better Matty?

He’s an absolute gym nut and, since junior, has been praised as being an incredibly fit and dedicated player on and off the ice. Considering how speed is such an integral part of his game, I wouldn’t be looking for him to add too much more weight as he’s still quite effective physically at 196lbs.

He does look ripped; When someone forwarded me a photo of him barechested (no jokes please) I actually thought it was a fake photo because he just looked too ripped! I just find it funny how people coined the smurf line when he was slotted with Pleks (who is also 196 lbs btw) and Gionta.
Seems anyone not over 205 is not wanted on the habs these days…

When the Habs picked him a lot of those of you who follow junior hockey were dismayed. He was felt to be ranked much lower, and possibly Bergevin intervened to pick a guy because of his size. I knew nothing about him but was reminded of Brian Burke justifying his Tyler Biggs pick a few years ago when Bergevin said we need to get bigger.

I notice that he is not tearing up the OHL, at least stats wise, and appears to be getting limited ice time – but that might not mean anything.

Does anyone know how he is doing this year? Has anyone revised their opinion of him?

I’m still not a big fan but I’m really not too worried. He’s transitioning to the OHL and is dealing with a shoulder injury.

He’s been below-average in most of the games I’ve watched, playing perimeter hockey, not being involved physically, and not really creating any chances or offence to speak of. He’s playing on the third line in London.

Biggs is starting to get questioned a bit by the Leaf media and fans similar to us who actually follow prospects etc…..

It was a risk for Burke to take Biggs, and if I recall correctly he was projected to be a 2nd round pick by other teams.

However, there are many big tough power forwards who seem to take 3-4-5 seasons of hockey in the pro’s before starting to really show themselves.

Great example is Cam Neely, Vancouver was convinced he wasn’t going to become much and traded him far to soon. I in no way shape or form expect McCarron to be a Neely, but this position seems to take a while to blossom.

Just as we gave up on Leclair too soon, again not a perfect analogy, but I think you know what I mean. There was risk in MB’s choice, but also perhaps high reward if his gamble pays off.

it´s interesting that in most prospect lists, Lehtonen, and even De la Rose in some lists, who both went behind him, are listed ahead of him, and that´s AFTER the draft. So he doesn´t seem like a homerun pick, or even a great sleeper pick.
I don´t see any picks in the last couple of drafts, personally, who really excite me. Maybe Fucale, but he´s in the one postion where there will probably not be an opening for 9 or 10 years, so forget him.

Murray might not be the fastest skater. But he has 651 hits and 480 blocks in 4 seasons. He was valuable enough to average more than 18 minutes per game with the Pens last season.
3rd on the team in time on ice for Dmen on the PK.

He is a role player, and the Sharks got 2 picks for him, and had to give the conditional one back cause they went deep in to the playoffs…

The best part of the comments below are the people now who know how injury prone he has been the past 6 seasons. In a possible 458 games over the past 6 NHL seasons, he has played in 396, 86% of games as a physical Dman.

Yup this guy will get injured first shift, I hear its par for the course!

I think MB should move Nathan Bealieu or Darren Dietz. Both of them are gifted puck movers but based on what I saw in the pre season I feel Dietz has the edge in the defensive zone. If we are to sign markov and p.k to extensions, we’ll only have room for one of them. We need big rugged shutdown guy that can skate not more offensive d

Respectfully, Beaulieu has more raw talent than maybe 80% of NHL players, and is a far, far better prospect than Darren Dietz.

I watched Beaulieu a lot in the Q, and I simply couldn’t believe how lucky the Habs were to draft him at the position they drafted him at. A total steal. To me, he’s the third best dman of that draft year, and that’s only behind Larsson and Brodin.

Dietz is a heart and soul guy, but his upside is to be the next Josh Gorges. Beaulieu’s upside is more like PK Subban.

I would trade any other D prospect before Beaulieu (if I were FORCED to trade one) and that includes Tinordi and definitely Dietz.

If you’ve seen Bealieu play a lot Im sure your right about him being being a better prospect than Dietz. I just feel like we could move one of our young d and get something good in return(especially with Pateryn making strides). I went to see the hurricanes n habs in pre-season and was quite impressed with the poise Dietz showed at both ends of the ice. Maybe a package deal with Dietz n someone else could garner a solid prospect?

It’s always possible to trade for a prospect, but in the case of rugged defencemen, I think they’re actually better to draft. There are always many to choose from and they tend not to go in the first round.

The Habs have Tinordi, who in my opinion is a can’t miss shut-down guy, Pateryn, who is quite big and has pro potential, and also an intriguing prospect in Josiah Didier, who has improved every year in the NCAA and projects as the kind of big, physical dman you are talking about.

I hope you’re right, because I feel like they’re going to need it. The Rangers will come out flying tonight. I know they’ve had a rough start but they did have an 8 game road trip to start the season and they managed to beat Detroit in their last game. Being their home opener, this is as close to a must have game for them as you can get this early. Habs will need to weather the early storm, IMO.

On another note, I really hope to see some good things from LL tonight. The kid has to know that he has a limited window to impress the brass. Hope he’s fired up.

And yeah, I know. I guess I’m hoping that DD surprises us all and has one of his pre-contract games. You know, a game where he’s actually dangerous in the offensive zone and makes a nice play to set up one of his talented wingers?

The word is out…. Murray is slooooooow! So many posters here are just hilarious. Some intentional and some not… But Murray would not be the first slow defenseman to ever play hockey. These players learn to play within their limits/limitation and do not screw up too often. Just hope it does not take him long to shake the cobwebs. Remember this is his first serious game in a while and after injury. So cut him some slack tonight. If he ends up as good as Hal Gil…. I’ll be happy.

Since it seems Buffalo is open for business, would you take a run at Tyler Myers? He’s had a few bad seasons in a row, but the all around upside he showed in his first 2 seasons is really hard to forget! Has he been irreparably damaged? If not, what is he worth?

unless the Sabres are willing to eat a portion of his contract, he’s not worth trading for. He at best at this very moment, nothing more than a bottom pairing Defenceman. You don’t pay them $5.5m a year

I would really like to see mb make what would seem to be a minor move and trade for one of my best friends from Ottawa Derek grant hes 6ft3 206 pounds and a center bigger then every center we have he led binghampton is goals last year and lead all ahl players with 5 short handed goals his skill and soft hands remind me of an underated eller I train with him all summer and play on ice with him in the past 2 years hes put on just under 30 pounds and it has not slowed him down what so ever Ottawa just called him up over all the crazy prospects they have which is saying a lot I know we could get him for a cheap deal and talking to him he just wants to play for a Canadian franchise I know this would never happen cause no one is thinking minor deals right now but having him in the line up daily would be so much better then dd I would even say trade dd for him and a 2nd or something and get rid of his contract you guys will all grow to love grant

JM brought out ridiculous stats like that to justify playing Darche on the PP instead of Cole. Just ridiculous, he no doubt belongs on the PP for many reasons, and just cause he’s not getting the points, he may be creating goals by taking everyone’s attention in front of the net!

the silver lining of the SJ game, #79 threw a check, and it was centre ice. damn near spilled my drink… and Diaz filled his diaper thinking that might be MT’s new system!!! DD has more points than Diaz has hits… how sad.

Matty, if there’s a parent blog we can meet on (!), my favourite advice is to keep the kid in bed with you. As long as neither parent’s had any drink etc, baby is safe — and extremely happy. Everyone sleeps way better.

Hopefully he’s cut some weight and is a little more mobile than before his injury. He was really labouring during the preseason.

He’s a complimentary piece and a #5 dman, that’s what he was signed for. He’s going to get beat to the outside and going into the corners but, if he brings physicality and decent defensive play in front of the net, we should be happy.

Why would you think he is a bust? Have you seen how he has played for Team Sweden the last few competitions? He is just now getting over a shoulder injury (EDIT, sorry was a knee injury he suffered in August, was still able to take part in Habs training Camp), he is in the final year committed to his club team in Sweden. Next year he most likely will be in Hamilton.

Mind you he is already 19, he probably is starting to get a bit long in the tooth.

I’m just saying in 92 games in the Swedish Elite League the guy has 6 goals, 6 assists for a grand total of 12 points. Yea he’s great at the junior level and all but if he can’t play against men then so what? Not to mention he’s tiny…

Don’t know that he’s sick. Just he hasn’t posted since the pre-season. I know he was disgusted with some of the suspensions or non-suspensions during the pre-season; maybe he’s finally had it with the NHL.

All the advanced stats guys are claiming Murray was statistically one of the worst players in the NHL last year, but if he can keep guys out of Price’s face, and can make battles tougher along the boards, then that’s all he needs to do. I can’t imagine he can be any worse than Hal Gill was. If he knows his role, that’s all you can ask for.

i like the Murray signing, and was looking for it when the Pens got him last year, BUT the fact that so many HIO posters are craving a big physical player, is a testament to how overly sheepish and small the Habs really are. how many other teams fans go ape sh** when a 6’3″ 240lb slow (but steady) 33 year old D makes his debut!

I guess he needs repeating, but Murray is not a goon/enforcer
Don’t expect him to fight as often as Prust, or even Moen.
He’s a strady stay at home D, that like to lay out big hits, and fights 1-3 times a season.

I am quite happy to see Crankshaft make his debut. Granted he too will not be in game shape, and may take a few games to come up to speed. Okay, maybe not up to any speed, but rather more familiar with watching others skate by him. 😉

Just as it was too early to write Louie off after 4 or 5 games in Hamilton, I hope people don’t judge Louie to hard after 1 game tonight. I think he will compliment DD and Bourque as Louie has a high hockey IQ and could provide more help offensively perhaps than Moen was giving.

I will join you guys someday . . . instead I was in Pittsburgh for my sons tournament…… and (off-topic) either Canadian players are a million times better than those in the US or they “cheat” and stack their teams for tournaments… LOL I figure in an olympic season I need to stir the pot

I’m thinking they brought him up a tad too quickly, but hopefully the fire is still lit under his rear. It would help his confidence a lot if he manages to pot one tonight, especially after the adversity he’s gone through.

What’s there to expect. If lucky he will play 10min, maybe 12 if few penalties. He’s playing with DD who is struggling, and bourque who can finish but has missed the few opportunities that DD made for him to finish.

LL is not a top 3 player, he’s not a game changer. He will make the NHL as a 3rd liner, maybe 2nd liner depending on depth and how hard he works.

I guess that’s what my expectations are. To see LL bring some compete to his game, to win puck battles and to play good on backcheck and maybe create a scoring chance or two.

But I can’t imagine any fan expecting LL to come in and be an impact player like Gallagher was for us last year.

Last season’s NYR ice time management ,poor as it was, cannot be blamed Vigneault, he was busy with Canucks. This season here is the SH TOI numbers for the Rangers:

Girardi : 36:12 TOTAL ; 4:01 Mins per game
McDonagh: 32:33 TOTAL ; 3:37 Mins per game
Staal: 21:32 TOTAL ; 2: 23 Mins per game
Stralman: 16:03 TOTAL ; 1:47 Mins per game
Del Zotto: 1:46 TOTAL ; 00:15 Mins per game

How is it that two least effective penalty killers from last season are getting twice as much Short handed time than the three defenseman who were SIGNIFICANTLY more effective on the penalty kill last year.

It is no wonder that the Rangers PK unit is ranked 17th in the league.

“Looks like Vigneault could use some help with performance analysis as well;”

Steve, you attract a good bit of abuse here (never from me so far) for your religious devotion to stats! But it never seems to bother you and you just keep posting what you like to post. Fair play to you! You never diss anyone, and you never take offense. Great combo.

And if Vigneault knows from the ex-Habs coach grapevine that all Montreal managers and coaches come to this site for inspiration, then I’m sure you’ll have his ear!

Steve O – your stats fail to account for Girardi and McDonagh drawing PK time against the opposition’s best PP unit. I’m not saying they’d post better numbers if they were the second PK unit on D, but I don’t think it’s fair to compare goals against stats for the top PK defensive unit versus the second unit, given that quite often the quality of opposition faced by the second pairing is far less than what most teams ice as their first PP unit. Make sense?

good point – and also sometimes it’ sharder against the second wave because generally the team with the PP has possession of the puck when the second unit begins their time (as opposed to a 50/50 faceoff). these are things a lot of people and certainly the stats can not account for

Yes, it makes sense, but it is not enough of a factor to offset the productive/ effectiveness numbers.

On the PK unit players, especially defrensemen, change when they get the opportunity, the puck is cleared down the ice. The team with the man advantage does not necessarily change their lines when the defensive team does. It seems to me if the pucks are consistently going in the net with the same two guys playing defense, and consistently NOT going in the net when two other guys are playing defense it may be a good idea to give some additional ice time to those who are successful and a little less ice time to those who are not.

If, as you say, the “weaker” defenceman (those whose numbers are better but you claim that its because they are facing weaker opposition) begin to give up goals at the same pace or worse than your “A” team, their numbers would no longer look so good.

If you are claiming that the coach has some “extra natural ” ability to KNOW that a player who is currently doing a great job of keeping the opposing team from scoring, will start to give up lots of goals if he played against a different line, I don’t buy that.

The are some facts that are “known” facts. In this case it is known that the Rangers penalty kill has been significantly better historically when Del Zotto , Stralman and Staal are on the ice than they have been when Girardi and McDonagh are.

There is no logical reason, in my opinion, why they should not be given more time on the PK unit.

1. Gallagher gets “rewarded” powerplay time for his excellent even strength play and his non-stop 110% attitude and effort. Not to mention he is a legit goal scorer and gets to the dirty areas (something no one else on our team does).

2. Correlation does not imply causation. Just because the stats say the team scores less with Gallagher on the powerplay doesn’t mean he is the cause. He seems to always do a good job on the powerplay.

3. Powerplay is at 25% which is excellent. Don’t try to fix something that isn’t broken.

My rebuttal:

1: Yes, Gallagher deserves to be rewarded for his excellent even strength play and his great effort and phenomenal attitude. I am not arguing that he should NOT have been given every opportunity to play, and succeed, on the PP.
What I am arguing is that he HAS been rewarded and he HAS been given the opportunity, and he HAS NOT been successful. No only does Gallagher not score PP goals at a decent clip, the TEAM does not score PP goals when he is on the ice. At some point when the rewards given to a deserving player starts to impact the teams chances of scoring and winning it is time to look for a different way to reward him. (make him an assistant captain, give him a pay raise, buy him a sports car, just stop putting him on the PP, it is not working! If we assume an average PP shift is one minute, in 27 shifts with the man advantage the team has scored ONLY two goals, ( I am pretty certain that one of them came on a 5 and 3)

2. You are absolutely right that correlation does NOT necessarily equal causation. Let’s even say that Gallagher is NOT to blame for the lack of production the HABs experience when he is on the PP. The fact is that when he is NOT on the ice the PP produces goals much more frequently.

What in your opinion constitutes doing a good job on the PP? Shots? Scoring chances? It’s a powerplay for god sakes, you are supposed to get shots and chances! Shots and chances do NOT win games, and in this case they don’t seem to lead to goals. The sole objective for a PP unit is to score goals.
Its like a batting average, you either get a hit ( score) or you make an out (don’t score) . Our average, when Gallagher is on the ice, has been SIGNIFICANTLY lower than when he is NOT on the ice and that has been consistently so since he began playing on the PP. (approximately 130 minutes so far)

3. Our PP has been fairly good this year…….Agreed. In fact it has been excellent when Gallagher is on the bench, and significantly less so when he is on with the PP unit. I am not suggesting that our PP get a complete overhaul, only that the ice time management mirror the productivity. Plekanec, Gionta, and Bourque, (and Briere and Pacioretty when healthy) deserve to get more PP time because they are MORE PRODUCTIVE on the PP.

Like I said, its simple mathematics, not rocket science.

I love what Gallagher brings to the team. at even strength. Maybe he can be rewarded with some time on the penalty kill unit?

Our least effective penalty killers this year have been Moen and White. Why not give Gallagher some time on the penalty kill?
Both Pacioretty and Bourque have been used, with good results, in that role this season. I don’t know for a certainty that he would be effective but I can imagine that Gallagher’s style of play can be very valuable killing penalties, breaking up passes, causing turnovers, preventing the pass form one point man to another. it would not surprise me if given the opportunity, Gallagher would soon become one of the leading short handed goal scorers in the entire league.

If you are being honest you would have to admit that there is a pretty good possibility that Gallagher would become a “weapon” on the penalty kill. That possibility should be explored.

In any case, right now, he is liability to the team’s PP. There can be no harm done by removing him from that position.

– New Flames jersey is the ugliest thing i have ever seen.
– My Canuck friends HATE yannick weber already
– How bad is new jersey? Does Lou have unlimited time considering his past? Zajac deal looks awful right now and the kovalchuk deal has screwed them real good. Not to mention when they lost in the stanley cup final they chose NOT to abandon the 29th overall pick (pretty much a second rounder) and this year will probably be giving up a top 10, if not top 5 pick! Not so many good decisions in recent times.

This is an excellent game for REVENGE. Sorry about that but we need one of those games where we win 6 to 1 or 7-0 to provide for the guys a good practice session and enjoy our many talented players. As much as this can be seen as wishfull thinking i say it is a well deserved wish and the Rangers look like a good target.

We may not be at the Shark`s level (yet) but if we come out like we did on saturday, i like our chances.

I have a confession to make, Larisa is my daughters’ name. I was trying to be incognito when I first joined HIO. Who knew I’d be going to summits, and have my face plastered all over the interwebz. But, you can call me L. 🙂

Are you reciting that in a soft, sing-song voice with a sweet little lilt and a big goofy grin on your face?

Many, many congrats Matty, and to your gf (who didn’t dump you after the turn-style incident!).

And not a bad limerick at all! (If we collected all HIO poetry and published an anthology — any illustrators out there? — our favourite charities might benefit by millions. Especially with a Nobel Prize…)

Yikes! How’d I get that wrong?
If you’re a first-time Dad, pack a sandwich and wear layers (that you can peel off in the tropical heat of the delivery room — no need to pass out at the crucial moment). If you’re not a first-timer, you know this already.

We left in a bit of a tizzy from the Summit, pretty sure it was going to happen, but it didn’t.
Oct. 31 is due-day, and it’s #2, so we’re well ready!
(because every delivery is the same, right? Right?)

Very afraid to post this . But it’s been bugging me a lot. And I am not sure if it’s all my imagination; my lack of confidence in MT; or my disgust with the mediocrity which has stemmed from the overly-coaching of ‘restrictive’ hockey used by coaches from Gainey to JM and now to MT?

No one else seems to be concerend so I have kept my mouth shut. But it’s bugging me. I think somehwere after the Columbus game MT’s has put his foot down and we now are seeing a gradual tone down of offense for a structure similar to JM’S hockey.

We’ll see how it goes. But many of you, Jimmy Shaker being the latest, have remarked on the lack-lustre play of players who usually are not that way for an entire game… much less a couple of games.
The reasoning seems to be poor effort on the part of the players. Based on MT’s positive responses to these games and his ‘alarmist’ response to the Columbus game… I am not so sure.

Since I seem to be a ‘lone’ voice I have to assume I am WRONG.
Guess we shall see. But I just had to get it off my chest.

Fair enough Trini, but I don’t think that MT has anywhere near the same methodical approach to ‘team defence’ that JM had. We were pretty free-wheeling last season, and we beat the Ducks 4-1 on Thursday.

We coudn’t play a wider-open game on Saturday night; there was no way, with the number of youngsters on the team, that we would have been able ot play a more attacking style and still be responsible defensively against the top team in the NHL.

Basically I’m trying to reassure you.
It’s fine, I don’t think we need to worry too much.
Hopefully some of the youngsters get their scoring touch back!

I agree with Matty. The system is no where near as restrictive as JM’s. Against the Sharks we had to play a checking game and it almost paid off were it not for an unlucky bounce and a PPG (that shouldn’t have counted in my opinion).

In general we have played a very free flowing, aggressive game. Subban dangling through teams is evidence of such.

The recent tightening up has a lot to do with the injuries and the young players on the team. If young teams don’t play tight you get the oilers and the islanders (horrible defensive teams due to lack of understanding of when to take appropriate risks).

MT doesn’t adjust mid-game. We’ve seen this now over enough games to know this is true. He worries more over some details that lead to chances against, but doesn’t focus enough on creating offense (by adjusting to what the other team is doing).

In my eyes, the loss against the Sharks was just a lack of physicality.

The style of play was fine – they had their chances. The overall effort even was good. But they lost more battles than they won, they dished the puck away more than SJ did, and they got hammered to the ice several times without retaliation. That’s about it.

Gallagher, just like last season is the weakest of all Habs forwards on the PP.

His production at even strength is awesome, but for some reason it does not translate to the PP unit. As I have been pointing out since middle of last season. the Habs PP unit does SIGNIFICANTLY better when Gallagher is NOT on the ice.

Why the coaching staff insists on continuing to give him “top” PP minutes,and more often than not, have him playing on the first wave is a mystery to me. It makes no sense at all.

Overall the HAbs have scored a PP goal every 6 minutes and 10 seconds when we have the man advantage.

When Gallagher is on the ice we have score once every 13 minutes and 30 seconds.

When Gallagher is NOT on the ice the PP unit has scored once every 4:minutes and 31 seconds.

This is not rocket science, it is a very simple measurement of productivity.

One of the following must be true:
a) the coaching staff are not aware of the fact that the PP is less effective when Gallagher is on the PP unit;

or
(b) they ARE aware and choose to ignore it, by continuing to give him maximum PP ice time.

I would understand the coaching staff decision to keep playing Gallagher on the first PP line if he had been was reasonably productive on the PP last season however the FACTS are that he was the least effective of the HAbs forwards on the power play last season as well.

1. Gallagher gets “rewarded” powerplay time for his excellent even strength play and his non-stop 110% attitude and effort. Not to mention he is a legit goal scorer and gets to the dirty areas (something no one else on our team does).

2. Correlation does not imply causation. Just because the stats say the team scores less with Gallagher on the powerplay doesn’t mean he is the cause. He seems to always do a good job on the powerplay.

3. Powerplay is at 25% which is excellent. Don’t try to fix something that isn’t broken.

Good point…..opponents have keyed in more on that line, maybe a little more bulldog mentality like gally would be a good thing. I know they are different type players, but there is no substitute for hard work. And PK seems to be a little indecisive to me. Opponents have limited his time and space as well, but he knows and we all know, that as an elite player now in the game, he can rise above that pressure and excel. We’ve seen it before.

So the Rangers have just beaten Detroit in Detroit for their 3rd win of the young season. They are now 3-6, as they started the season with 9 straight road games because MSG was not yet ready for Prime Time.

Tonight is the Rangers’ home opener, and I would say, an early “must win” game for their new coach, Alain Vigneault.

How pumped do you think the Rangers will be for this one?

If Vigneault can not get his team up for this game, he is not getting through very well to this group I would say.

I think Vigneault is a solid coach who has earned the players’ respect, and I expect a very tough game for the Habs tonight.

I’m optimistic about tonight… I think the boys did ok against the Sharks, considering who we’re missing. Just think, it was really a 1-0 loss, that second goal being a huuuuge fluke. PLus, we gave them a way better game than the Sens did.

Btw, anyone who thinks Karlsson is a better D than Subban should look at last nights Sens highlights… a huge giveaway then the worst lazy back-check ever! At least Subby can play D, hits like a monster, and also gives you all the offense. I know ya’ll might think I’m biased, but I wouldn’t trade the guy for any other D in the league. And if he doesn’t make team Canada…

Not bothering me at all…Iwas the original Price supporter here when You guys were blowing Huet’s horn! What piss me off is Price’s entitlement NOT BASED ON PERFORMANCE and all the moneys and games it’s cost us